The Bare Necessities of Life 3
Norse Runes for Daily Living - Part 3
Great Stories come in Threes.
If you have never had the chance to look up old Norse runes - I will tell you what you need to know. Without diving into the religion of the runes, or the divination process, I will only show you how I think that the runes spell out 24 basic needs of life for each young person growing up in this world.
Today - we will look at the third and final chapter of life involving ascension.
Where “bio” life counting breaths, “zoe” life is making the breaths count. We need both. The runes are organized into three parts of your life. First, is the creation, second the transformation and third, the ascension. This means that in life, you begin, you change and then you rise above to a new level - possibly to do the same cycle all over again.
Ascension Runes
TIWAZ - Justice - Now we approach the higher ideals. We started with wealth and stuff, making a living - and now we sit down for a minute to explore the needs of the greater world. Notice how these runes call for a little more maturity. The old story said the god Tyr gave up his left hand to save the world from the monstrous wolf Fenrir. A great leader knows that justice involves sacrifice, strategy and leadership. Without justice, there is corruption and monsters run free.
BERKANO - Divine Feminine - What I love about the old world religions is how often they respect the masculine and feminine. Here, we have an entire rune to symbolize the woman’s experience. The rune means “birch” as in the tree and encapsulates nurture, gestation, birth and caretaking. Holding something inside you for an appointed time is the work of the artist - trusting the process and waiting in time for it to birth into the world. It is the silence of darkness where seeds first grow, not the spotlight of the sun. We owe a great deal to the great mother, from where we all birthed and who cares for use even now. Without Berkano, we are motherless.
EHWAZ - Horse - This rune symbolizes progress, especially regarding partnerships. What you could not do on your own suddenly becomes possible when you join forces with another! A good leader bets on the right horse because of experience and even intuition. A good leader also cooperates with humility, rather that simply going it alone in the world. How many times do we have stories of hero’s and their faithful steed? Ehwaz helps you progress in life, and without it, we are stunted.
MANNAZ - Mankind - No longer is it just about you and your story. Mannaz shows us how we are part of something greater than ourselves. This is when you volunteer your time, you branch out of your social circle, you see how the weather affects all and those you didn’t consider before. This is where folks of different faith band together for a common cause, or where many hands make work light. We also need our own community and to be a part of a team. Nowadays, I personally feel we are informed to blend in with anyone and everyone - I think this will lead to homogenization of culture. Mannaz reminds us that yes, we are not simply our own, we belong to a group. But that is a group within groups and each group varies in beliefs and values. We need to know Mannaz, because without it, we do not belong.
LAGUZ - Lake - Imagine a Norse man, weathered with experience, peering over into a lake. He has grown up in a home, traveled the wilderness, and visited other tribes. He now pauses on his journey and as he looks into the stillness of the lake, for the first time, he sees his own reflection. Mirrors have not always been around, and certainly not mirrors that capture endless digital photos of your reflection, waiting to be propped with filters and funny captions. Reflection is vitally important - even the Futhark, the runic alphabet, included a rune to say so. Laguz means reflection. However, it is not the only rune and we should spend our time accordingly, spreading out our attention and intentions over the entire alphabet. We should also beware of casual reflection that literally deals only with surface issues. One of the challenges of convenience is developing contempt for the sacredness of reflection. We have it available to easily and may soil it’s holy wonder. We need reflection, but use with intention and if you never see something you don’t like - you’re probably doing it wrong. Without it, we are unaware.
INGWAZ - Divine Masculine - By now you see how the ascension runes in the Futhark deal with higher concepts. In childhood, you were only a child, but now you must set aside your childish ways and become a man. That doesn’t only involve leading with sacrifice, but also respecting your origins and respecting women as the carriers of all life. There is a holiness of the duality of male and female and the union of those opposites. Masculinity has suffered a slight in reputation lately and is due for a resurgence of its light in the world. Like the sun shining above, we have been told it will kill us - but perhaps it is the giver of life. Ingwaz means “seed”. In nature, there is soil and seed and when you understand both, you have life, food, survival, pleasure and the hope you can do it all again next year. Without seed, there is only potential, but never actuality. The masculine forms what the feminine dreams. Without Ingwaz, we are fatherless.
OTHALA - Home - I once sat into a personal growth seminar. Surprisingly, time after time, each member volunteered that their greatest tragedy was having a house without roots, ancestry, tradition, or sense of home. I say “sense” because we all know what I mean, even if we have never tasted it. Othala means where we are born, live and die, like migratory salmon, we know where is our home and we long for it. It’s not just a house, but heritage, tradition, rituals and ceremonies, stories repeated for posterity’s sake. Beware the growing movement to wash away your history, for acceptance of past means peace. We need Othala, for without it, we are homeless.
DAGAZ - Dawn - The runes tell a story of birth, growth and development. If you follow the path, skipping no steps, you find a recipe for a happy life. Including the spirit of each rune into your life shifts you away from mundane living in the worst sense of the word and into a dynamic life that embraces each ingredient into the whole of life - even the tough ones. Dagaz reminds us that no matter what, the sun will rise anew and even when we close our eyes for the final time here on earth, we open them anew to a light beyond, white shores and holy songs, - ready to begin again and make all things new. Without Dagaz, we are in darkness.
This concludes the 3rd and final aett - ascension. Remember that these runes are ancient words telling us what is important in life, so as not to live simply the “bio” of life, but also the “zoe” - the vibrant, animated life of the spirit. May your story continue!
Some runic teachings include the 25th rune - The Void. It is simply a blank rock with no markings at all, a sort of wild card in the mix. It reminds me of how every story begins, lights out, curtain closed, breathless pause - for all life was formed ex nihilo. So, remember that in all of the lessons involved in the runic alphabet, take a pause, hold the breath, and trust that darkness always precedes an amazing story.